Walden: Solitude Summary & Analysis

Walking along the pond, enjoying the animals, Thoreau believes that his solitude makes him a part of nature and therefore allows him to achieve a sense of liberty. When he returns to his house, he can sometimes tell that visitors have been there in his absence. He believes his life is as solitary as if he lived on the prairies or Asia or Africa and that he has "a little world all to [him]self."

From nature, Thoreau gets "the most sweet and tender, the most innocent and encouraging society," which prevents every possible occasion for melancholy. Would anyone consider a dandelion in a pasture to be alone? he asks. He is a part of nature, and no part of nature is ever alone. Once, he says, he did wonder if the company of other people was necessary for a good life, but even then he knew that the thought would pass.

Some of his most enjoyable hours, Thoreau writes, were the long rainstorms in which he stayed in his house thinking. Loneliness is a state of mind, he believes, which cannot necessarily be cured by being physically close to someone. Just as people can be blind to the life of nature happening around them, Thoreau believes, they can be bad companions. Moreover, even the best company becomes wearisome after a while. There is never reason to feel alone, because the whole planet is just one infinitesimally small point in space.

Thoreau believes that people are distracted by being polite and that they spend too much time around each other, which actually makes them respect each other less. Though he has had very pleasant visits from all kinds of people, he thinks people are more lonely when they are around other people than when they are alone. What prevents the student or the farmer from being alone is not people but their work, which fulfills them.